Diamond in the Rough
by Princessstarryknight
Summary: Kallura series! Keith has finally come to the realization that he’s hopelessly in love with Allura. The only problem is he doesn’t think he deserves her. He thinks that Lotor would be much more deserving to be her partner. Little does he know that her heart lies with him, and that she loves him unconditionally.
1. For You

"KEITH!" Everyone exclaimed as he came into the control room on the castle and everyone lunged at him with such force that he was tackled to the ground.

"We were so scared!" Hunk wailed, tears streaming down his face.

"Yeah man! What the hell!" Lance scolded him. He seemed more angry than sad. "Why would you just throw your life away like that? You know how much we all care about you…"

Keith sighed and looked at Allura. He had never seen this expression on her face before. She looked hurt, betrayed, more upset than he'd ever seen her before. He suddenly felt incredibly guilty. When he was making this sacrifice he didn't even consider how much it would hurt the people he cared about most.

Of course during the act itself he thought about the paladins. He thought about all the happy moments they shared and how they truly had become his family. And Allura…He had always felt something for her. Something stronger than the bonds with the other paladins. With her, he felt like she needed him as much as he needed her. He had only ever felt that strong bond with Shiro. But the feelings he had for Allura were different than the ones he had for Shiro. Something about her made his heart beat increase, and his chest grow warm. He had a feeling like he wanted to hug her and never let go. Like he wanted to be at her side for eternity. And deep down he knew the true nature of his feelings, but he also knew that she would never return them. So that's why he left with the blades. Perhaps if he distanced himself from her he would be able to move on. But now here he was, back in her arms, along with everyone else's.

"Please Keith…" she begs him. "Please don't do that again."

He didn't say anything, because at that moment Lotor strode in with a smug grin on his face. He looked over at Keith and the other paladins helping him up off of the control room floor and smirked.

* * *

"You're welcome." Lotor says. Keith just glares at him.

"For what?" He growls and subtly moves to stand in front of the paladins.

"For saving your life, and everyone's lives for that matter." Lotor reminds him. Keith only rolls his eyes and looks away.

"If my plan had gone through I would have also-" Keith tries to explain but Lotor cuts him off.

"Crashing your ship into the particle barrier would have been a meaningless sacrifice." Lotor tells him and a chill ran down Keith's spine. "It was extremely powerful, and even if your ship had managed to dismantle the barrier, the rebels would still have to destroy the weapon underneath it. And that would have taken much longer, and Naxella would have exploded."

"He's right." Shiro says and Keith felt betrayed as he looked at Shiro. "Lotor was the only one who could save us. His ship had the only weapon capable of destroying the barrier and the bomb. Without him, none of us would be here. Thank you, Lotor." Shiro says robotically.

"You're most welcome esteemed Black Paladin." Lotor replies and places his fist over his heart and bows his head slightly. "Now, I did want to have a discussion-" He's interrupted by Keith leaving the room in a rush.

Allura's eyes watered a bit and she moved to go after him, making something snap in Lotor and his eyes widen when he sees the worry and something else in Allura's eyes. Shiro's hand on Allura's shoulder stops her in her endeavors to go after Keith.

"I know you care about him Allura." Shiro tells her. "We all do. But he's been through a lot and needs to rest. We can fill him in on this meeting with Lotor once he's cleared his head a bit." Shiro instructs her and with one last forlorn look at the door Allura bows her head and goes back to stand beside Shiro and the other paladins. "Now Prince Lotor, you were-" Shiro looks confused when he sees that Lotor's attention is now also on the door.

Lotor's eyes were narrowed, and he appraised the door with suspicion and a look of envy on his features. These features solidified even more when he looked at Allura and saw her looking upon the door with fondness, and worry sparkling in her crystal blue eyes. Lotor let himself frown at her expression.

"Lotor?" Shiro repeats, confused this time.

Lotor's expression immediately changes from one of jealousy to a calm and diplomatic one.

"Yes. Dear paladins and lovely princess." He addresses and Allura frowns at his address, making Lotor falter for a moment before regaining his composure. "After being exiled by my parents I have begun a new quest to seek revenge on them. If their precious Empire is more important to them than their own son well, then what better revenge than destroying it? And since I know that that is your mission as well I feel that I can be of service to you. After all, I do have plenty of information on the Empire that I know the Coalition would be very happy to have. So what I am asking is if you would allow me to join your Coalition, and be of assistance in taking down my parents Empire?" He offers.

The paladins all looked at each other before turning back to Lotor.

Reluctantly they ultimately let him join. After what happened on Naxella, they realized that the Galra Empire was growing stronger at a much more rapid rate than they were expecting. They would have to strike immediately if they were to be able to defeat it. And since Lotor was able to save them when they were unable to save themselves, he would indeed be a valuable asset to the team. No one really liked it, but they had to put their own prejudices and feelings aside for the sake of their cause.

Allura knocked on Keith's door after the meeting. She knew that Keith wouldn't take it well, so she wanted to be the one to break it to him, since Shiro seemed…not himself…lately and Allura was the only other person everyone knew he wouldn't argue against or snap at. Everyone knew that Allura's decisions are the only ones that Keith would ever fully obey. Even when Shiro wanted him to pilot the Black Lion he initially refused, and it was only because of the team's encouragement that he agreed. So Allura was clearly the only one who could get him to comply to letting Lotor stay at the castle and be part of the Coalition.

When Keith's door hissed open Allura looked up and opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her eyes went wide and her face had heated up. Keith was rubbing his hair dry with a towel, and he only wore his pants, his upper body was completely bare. The few water droplets that caught the light sparkled on his bare chest and arms, mesmerizing the princess and causing a strange feeling to shudder through her body and settle at her core. She had admitted to herself when she first met Keith that he was attractive but now that her feelings had been starting to develop for him seeing him in this state was…

He took the towel off of his head and tossed it to shake the last of the droplets from his raven locks, completely unaware of the colorful, sparkly background that had formed behind him in the princess's vision. His violet eyes locked on hers and in that sweet voice of his he endearingly said her name…

"Allura." He smiled slightly and Allura's eyes lit up and her breath hitched slightly.

All the mice who had been resting on the princess's shoulders sighed dreamily and fainted. The two girl mice fanning themselves with their tails before falling. Keith immediately lunged forward and caught them before they all hit the ground and then he set them down and looked up at the princess. He looked confused. Why was she staring at him with that look of desire on her face? Her pupils were dilated.

"Allura? Are you okay?" He asks and Allura stiffens and quickly shakes her head to snap herself out of her trance.

"Yes!" She exclaims quickly and looks embarrassed. "Yes. Uh, everything is fine." She stammers and bites her lip, trying not to stare at Keith's toned arms and chest.

Perhaps that Marmora training did have some benefits after all…She thinks to herself before completely pushing her lustful thoughts aside and focusing on the main task at hand.

"We had the discussion with Lotor…" Allura tells him. "And we came to the conclusion that-"

"He's joining the team." Keith says, eyes trained on the ground and his fist clenched.

"Yes but-" Allura tries to explain.

"You're all idiots." He says and tries to retreat into his room.

"Keith!" Allura scolds him and grasps his hand, halting his retreat. "I know you don't trust him, I don't either but-"

"Then why did you let him join?" Keith asks. His temper starting to flare.

"Because we need him." Allura says firmly. "The Empire is getting stronger and he has demonstrated that he is able to defeat them at this new level of strength. We need him right now. And even if there is a risk he is plotting something…There's also a risk that he's being genuine and we can't afford to pass up an opportunity to get a step ahead of the Empire. Surely you understand?" Allura asks him and Keith looks into her eyes.

"I do." Keith answers and Allura sighs in relief, but her heart races as Keith squeezes her hand and looks at her with a different expression. One filled with care. "But this means that you have to be careful. Don't fall into his-"

"Believe me I know how persuasive Lotor can be." Allura says in a bit of a hurt tone that left Keith wondering how he might have betrayed her in the past and that made him hate Lotor that much more. "I will be on my guard, as will all of us."

"Good." Keith says, thinking that would be the end of the conversation.

"But we need you too Keith." Allura tells him and his heart jumped, his eyes wide. "The Blades have now clearly demonstrated how expendable you are to them. But team Voltron cannot afford to lose you." Her voice started cracking and her eyes started to water. "I-I cannot…" She wept then lunged forward and hugged him.

This time he readily caught her and held her tightly against him as she sobbed into his shoulder. His arms trembled as the realization hit him that he almost never got to hold her again. He winced at the thought and buried his face in her hair.

"You promised me once that you would come back to me." She tells him softly. "Now I need you to make that promise to me again, every time you leave, or else I won't allow you to go back with the Blades."

"Allura." Keith says and pulls her back a bit to look at her. "You can't force me to stay here." She sniffled again. "And I can't promise you that I'll always come back. It's a war. You know as well as I do that such things can't be guaranteed." She was about to break down again but Keith gently rubbed her tears away with his thumbs. "But luckily I won't have to make that promise to you, because I'm not going back to the Blades." He says and Allura's heart soared with happiness. "I'm staying with the team."

"Oh thank goodness!" Allura exclaimed and threw her arms around him and hugged him tight again.

"You're right. The team needs me more than the Blades right now. Especially now that we have that slimy weasel amongst us now…" Allura's eyes widened, knowing he was referring to Lotor. "The team needs someone to be on their guard all the time. And while I trust the other paladins and your judgement, I saw the way he looked at you. He has an ulterior motive for joining this team and if it's what I think it is then I don't like it." He says sternly.

Allura gasped as Keith wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her flush to his chest. She looked into his eyes and her heart fluttered at the intense sincerity and devotion in them.

"So I'm staying with the team to protect them. That's what's most important. But personally, I'm staying here for you." He says and Allura's heart leapt. "If he hurt you and I knew I could have done something I would never forgive myself. So I'm not going to let that happen. The universe needs you Allura, Voltron needs you…I need you." He says softly and gently squeezes her hand. "So no matter what, I'm going to protect you. The one thing I can promise you is that as along as I'm breathing I'll always be by your side for you." He says fiercely and Allura knew right then and there, she was definitely in love with Keith.

"Keith…" She says softly and reaches her free hand out to gently touch his cheek.

"Hey Keith!" Lance shouts and the two paladins gasp and jump apart to look at Lance. Pidge and Lotor rounded the corner with him.

Keith and Lotor locked each other's gazes and their eyes narrowed at each other and Keith subtly moved to stand in front of Allura.

"Wait a minute…" Lance says and looks between the two of them, then he started bristling with anger. "Keith are you trying to seduce Allura!?"

Keith blushed and face palmed while Allura only blushed. Had Lance somehow been able to deduce her true feelings for the hot tempered man in front of her. And how flustered she was when she initially saw him shirtless.

"Why the quiznak would you assume that?" Keith asks him.

"Because you're shirtless and wet!" Lance exclaims. "Those two things combined will turn any girl on!"

Keith was about to reply but then his eyes widened and his face turned red when he suddenly realized why Allura had been looking at him so strangely. Did she find him attractive? The two of them looked at each other, now extremely nervous and embarrassed and Lotor scowled at them both. Lance growled too and grabbed the hem of his shirt and started to lift it up.

"Well two can play at this game!" He declares.

"Put your shirt back on!" Pidge yells at him and Lance pouts and drops the hem, crossing his arms.

"I was taking a shower and Allura came by to tell me that Lotor is a part of the team now." Keith says. "And I told her that I'm joining team Voltron again." Keith says and Lance and Pidge's eyes lit up and they both jumped at him and hugged him.

"KEEF!" They wailed and held onto him tightly. "You're back! Thank goodness! Now tie him down so he can't try to kill himself again!" Pidge instructs to Lance and they start dragging him to his room to find something to restrain him.

"Relax, I'm not going to be doing anything life threatening like that for awhile." Keith tells them and they both release him and let out a sigh of relief. "Right now there are more reasons for me to stay alive than to sacrifice myself." Keith says and looks at Allura, making her heart pound again.

"Okay…" Pidge says, still a bit confused. "But as long as you're not going to go killing yourself anytime soon then I guess we can leave you be. Come on Lance, let's show Lotor to his room."

"Alright." Lance says and follows Pidge down the hall.

"I've got my eye on you two." Lance says and points at his eyes with two fingers then points them both at Keith and Allura.

As Lotor passed Keith he glared at him, and Keith returned it.

"Meanwhile I'll keep my eyes on you." Keith warns and Lotor snarls at him before leaving him and giving the princess an endearing look before she rolls her eyes and walks up to Keith.

Lotor did not miss the gentle squeeze she gave his hand, and the fond look in her eyes as well as his as her face gently came up to cup his cheek.

"I'm glad you're back." She tells him and he closes his eyes and nuzzles his face into her hand a bit.

"Glad to be back." He tells her before they reluctantly part ways and Keith watches her longingly as she leaves down the hall, the mice following her.

Lotor fiercely turned on his heel and walked down the hall.

Keith heard a whistle behind him and turned to find Coran and Shiro.

"Whoa Keith! I had no idea you were hiding a pair of pythons under that jacket you always wear!" Coran exclaims and Keith blushed. His face turned even redder when he noticed Shiro was blushing as well. "You may not have the largest mass out of the three of us but you've certainly built up some more strength since we last saw you! Well looks like Shiro and I aren't the only muscle men on the team anymore! Right Shiro? Shiro?" Coran tried to get Shiro's attention.

"What?" Shiro asks him quickly and they both look up to find Keith hastily retreat into his dorm and the door shut.


	2. Dream Come True

That night Keith slept more peacefully than he had in many quintants. He was finally home, with his family. And with...Allura. He was rather surprised by the pleasant dream he ended up having. He imagined he was back at his little house on Earth in the desert, working on his bike in the garage. He heard the door open and turned and expected to see his dad or some other relative he might have there but instead his eyes widened when he saw it was Allura.

"Keith, you've been fixing up that old bike for over an hour." She complains and pouts before coming over to him and placing her hands on his chest. "Won't you please come back to bed?"

"Bed?" A now very red faced Keith asked in a confused and flustered tone.

"Yes. I'm your girlfriend we share a bed Keith." She says before pecking his cheek.

"You're my girlfriend?" He asks and he feels his heart fill with warmth and his usual frown start to change into a smile. She laughs.

"Oh Keith have you forgotten?" She asks him and laughs. "Perhaps I should do something to remind you..." She suggests and pushes Keith back into his bike more and she presses her lips to his and they start making out.

Keith let himself melt into the kiss and he flipped her around and sat her on the seat of the bike, sliding his hands under the light pink nightshirt she was wearing, caressing her body as he devoured her mouth.

"Let's go for a ride baby." He says in a husky tone and winks at her before mounting his bike, her sitting behind him and holding his sides as he revs up the engine and then they take off out of the garage and into the desert.

He woke up and screamed. He looked around and saw that he was just in his room, and Allura wasn't there. He ran a shaky hand through his hair and tried to make sense of his strange dream.

"Why would I have a romantic dream about Allura?" He asks himself. "I was kissing her, we were in love, I wanted to be in love with her, I wanted to kiss her. Do I still want to now that I'm awake?" He asks and thinks about it.

His eyes widened when he realized, given the opportunity he would kiss her soft lips, caress her strong feminine figure, and worship her like the Goddess she was. Not only was she incredibly beautiful but she was so kind, caring, and a natural leader like Shiro. He wanted to be at her side as much as possible. He realized then that he was starting to fall for the princess, and he was terrified because he knew she could never love him back.

Allura tried not to roll her eyes as Lotor stood close to her by the castle controls. He was clearly trying to flirt with her and she was clearly not interested but this pompous, privileged prince just couldn't take a hint!

"Why princess I must say the stars before us are lovely wouldn't you think?" He asks.

"Yes Lotor they are rather splendid." She says flatly and Lotor frowns then smirks.

"But they don't shine nearly as bright as your eyes." He compliments and the mice face palm and Allura groans and rolls her eyes.

"Thank you Lotor but perhaps instead of flirting you should be focused on your current task of locating Galra fleets." She tells him and shoots him a steely glare. Lotor turns on his heel and leaves then he hears Keith walk up to the princess and turns to watch their interaction.

"Allura, here are the planets that that blades are going to help liberate." Keith says and hands her some papers.

"Oh Keith that's wonderful!" Allura says happily and smiles at him. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." He says then gently reaches out and holds one of her earrings in his fingers, prompting the girl to blush. "Did you get new earrings?" He asks.

"Oh yes I did." She tells him and laughs nervously. "They're an old pair of my mother's that I found in the castle. Do you like them?" She asks.

"They're beautiful." Keith says then blushes before adding. "But not nearly as beautiful as your eyes."

"Oh Keith..." Allura says softly and blushes, turning away from him so he can't see how flustered she is.

Steam was pouring out of Lotor's ears as he watched them. How come the princess was revolted by him complimenting her eyes but when Keith did she acted like a pining little girl with her first crush! Does Princess Allura have feelings for that half-blood peasant? His jealous thoughts were interrupted by Hunk.

"Hey everyone I made dumplings!" Hunk announces and the other paladin's faces, minus Shiro's light up and they all charge at Hunk.

Allura leaned over the control panel as everyone continued to eat and work and sighed dreamily. She couldn't stop thinking about her chat with Keith last night. Ever since the two of them had run off in that pod together she had developed a small crush on the Galran hybrid but last night was incredible! Back on Altea she had always had suitors either try to be overprotective because she was a princess or be too laid back and not help her out at all with any of her royal duties. She wanted someone who would still allow her to be independent and rule her people as she pleased, but also acknowledge that every now and then she needs a knight in shining armor to defend her when she can't do so herself. Keith proved to her last night that he was that knight or in this case, paladin that she was looking for.

She could see it now. The castle was under siege by the Galra. Allura imagined herself fighting valiantly in a corridor. She truly was a force to be reckoned with. No droid or general could match her prowess and strength. But what the princess didn't notice was the general who had been hiding, waiting for the precise moment to strike. Allura took down the last droid and smiled, satisfied with her work. Then the general jumped on top of her and held a laser gun to her neck.

"Alright princess, now come along quietly or else we'll kill you." He growls and pulls her up to stand.

There were other soldiers accompanying him. Allura wasn't sure how she'd be able to get herself out of this one. The realization quickly dawned on her that she'd have to sacrifice herself. She couldn't let them get information on Voltron.

"I will not come quietly, therefore you'll have to kill me." She says sternly.

"Get off of her!" A familiar angry voice yelled before the red paladin's blade pierced through a soldier's chest.

Every time Allura had imagined a scenario in which her knight in shining armor the figure had always been discernible. But now it was very clear that the man before her, fighting valiantly, was none other than Keith. He killed all of the soldiers and then pointed his blade at the soldier's neck.

"Put that thing away or I'll shoot her." The general growls.

"You'd be dead before your hand squeezes the trigger." Keith says and the general falters. Then Keith plunged his blade deep into his neck, killing the general. "No one messes with my princess." He says before disarming his bayard and letting the general fall to the floor.

Keith's hard gaze changed to one of concern and he carefully approached the princess.

"Are you okay?" He asks and she throws her arms around him and kisses him.

"Oh Keith! Thank goodness you came!" She exclaims and the background fades away and changes to a sparkly pink one.

"I'll always come for you princess. As long as I'm here I'll make sure no one ever hurts you." He says and her heart flutters as he holds her against his chest and she looks up at him dreamily. "Now let's get you back to the command center, you have coalition to lead." He says and her heart does a backflip.

"Yes and I must get to them immediately but kiss me first!" She begs and yanks on Keith's armor and smashes her lips to his.

"Allura, Allura." She heard a voice call to her in her dream.

"Oh Keith..." She sighs dreamily.

The voice calling her name kept repeating itself and she opened her eyes, expecting to see her brave paladin before her but instead she saw Coran.

"Allura?" He asks in a concerned tone and she quickly jumps up and tries to look as professional as possible while also doing her best to hide her embarrassment. She could feel her Altean markings becoming more pink than usual. "Allura...where you, dreaming about Keith?"

Lotor's head whipped around, a vein bulging from his head. Keith choked on one of the dumplings he was sharing with Lance and Lance had to hit him on the back so he would spit it out. It hit Pidge in the head.

"Ouch!" She yells. "Lance!"

"It's not my fault! Keith ate the dumpling!" Lance argues.

"Yeah but you hit me in the back!" Keith argues.

"That's only because you choked when you heard Allura was having a romantic dream about you!" Lance yells and Keith's face turned bright red and Lotor growled.

"Wait it was a romantic dream!" Hunk exclaimed. "Oh my gosh I knew it! Allura has a crush on Keith!" Hunk screamed.

"I do-" Allura quickly tried to lie to calm everyone down.

"Oh Allura that's wonderful. I'm so happy you've found love!" Coran exclaims.

"Wait a minute Keith do you like her back?" Matt asks from the other chair next to Pidge,

"What!" Keith exclaimed and shot an angry look at Matt. "W-why on Earth would you think that?"

" You were moaning Allura's name last night in your sleep." Matt said.

Everyone gasped and looked completely shocked. Allura's heart soared. Was Keith having a romantic dream about her as well? But if he was moaning her name in his sleep then did that mean his dream was more of a...oh my. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"What no I was not! I was not moaning her name! I just had a dream about her but it wasn't like that!" Keith quickly responds.

"Wait...what if Keith wasn't dreaming about Allura?" Lance asks and his face starts to pale and everyone starts to get shocked again. "And he was moaning her name because she was in there with him-"

"Lance are you seriously suggesting that Keith and I-" Allura angrily said before getting cut off by Pidge.

"Wait a minute is that why you and Keith were in his room while he was shirtless?!" Pidge exclaimed.

"What no that was not-" Keith tried to reassure her.

"Oh my stars they totally quiznacked!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Wait WHAT!" Coran explodes and looks at Keith menacingly, lightning flashing behind him to portray his anger.

"C-Coran..." Keith stammered and started to back away.

Coran's vision was red and in his mind he envisioned himself having his eyes target Keith like a ship about to shoot it's missiles at the target it locked on to.

"Coran what are you-" Shiro starts to say then Coran lifts his laser gun at points it at Keith.

"Sorry Keith. Until a few minutes ago you were a treasured friend. But now I'm going to have to kill you for your crimes." Coran says seriously.

"Whoa Coran don't you think you're being a little unreasonable!" Lance exclaims.

"Personally I think that's a perfectly logical action." Lotor says calmly.

"Of course you would." Shiro says in a deflated tone.

"Coran...put the gun down-" Keith says and starts to back away.

"You deflowered the princess!" Coran yells and shoots at him.

Keith jumps out of the way, just narrowly missing the shot and running out of the command center. Coran followed him. The two of them ran throughout the castle.

"I'll get you you horny orphan rat! I'm gonna shoot that ridiculous mullet right off your head!" Coran yells.

"Coran! Keith and I did not sleep together!" Allura yells at him as he ran down the hall.

"Stop lying to defend him!" Coran yells at her. "Now the Galra have truly taken everything from you! Your father, your people, and now your virginity!"

Allura groaned and face palmed.

"Ugh, men never listen." She complains.

"Now I've got you!" Coran says when Keith reaches a dead end in the hallway.

Shiro jumped on top of Coran but his Altean strength made it hard for the black paladin to hold him down.

"Team I need backup!" Shiro calls to them and they all run over to Shiro and jump on top of him and Coran.

Lance gets the gun out of Coran's hand. Keith panted and bent over, his hands on his knees. Allura came running up behind them and Lance looked over at her.

"Hey Allura help us-" Lance says then looks confused when Allura runs past him.

"Keith!" Allura exclaimed and ran over to him.

"Allura-" Keith said in a confused tone then gasped as she threw herself at him and hugged him.

"Oh Keith are you alright?" Allura asks sweetly.

"Allura..." Keith said in a softer tone and looked at her.

Suddenly everything faded away and he saw her with a pink sparkly background behind her.

"Did he hurt you?" Allura asks and brings her face a bit closer to his. "I'm so sorry if he did, Coran and my father were very close, he's always been very protective of me."

"I'm fine Allura." Keith says and blushes, holding her gently in his arms. Now both of them were blushing and looking endearingly at each other.

"Are you two sure you're not a thing?" Pidge asks and the two of them freak out and jump apart, facing away from each other.

"We're not!" They both shout at the same time.

"I'm not in love with Keith!" Allura declares. "I just had a dream that he happened to be in that's all."

"Y-yeah same here." Keith says. "I'm totally not infatuated with the princess."

"I sure hope not." Lotor says, leaning against the wall. "It would only lead to heartbreak. For both of you." He says and comes over to Allura.

"And why is that?" Keith asks, narrowing his eyes, looking angry.

"Because Allura and I are engaged." Lotor says and everyone gasps and Keith's eyes widen and his heart snaps in half. The sight brought tears to Allura's eyes.


End file.
